Education vs Intelligence

            About a year ago, I had an argument which I've kept on intending to write about and here I am finally getting around to it. The argument was, at its core, about the mass delusion in our world that education bestows intelligence and that intelligence cannot exist without education.

            The argument started with a conversation about my car which, at the time, made rather alarming rattling noises whenever it went over a bump. My brother (an avid car fan his entire life) had diagnosed it as a loose heat shield – a part he has frequently informed me is pretty much useless. No damage was being done, so it wasn't imminently important to fix.

            Now, the person with whom I was conversing took issue with the fact that I was trusting my brother on this for one – and only one – reason: my brother isn't a licensed mechanic. The argument went along the lines of him saying that, without the official training through apprenticeship, my brother isn't qualified to work on cars. My argument, of course, was that my brother took every possible auto course he could in high school and, beyond that, he enjoyed working on cars so much that he could practically take them apart and put them back together again.

            The reply to that was (in my paraphrased version): he hasn't got a piece of paper, therefore he doesn't know what he’s talking about. Masters train apprentices, who then become masters and train their own apprentices. The skills and knowledge are passed down.

            My argument continued to tracing that back to its origins. There wasn't always a master around to teach an apprentice. How did the first master become a master? By doing. The first master learned by trial and error, by taking things apart and putting them back together again – just as my brother had.

            The argument went on and I came to realise just how deep this concept is rooted in our society – more so in the older members, but, as with everything, it trickles down the generations. There is a very solid belief that, without a piece of paper proving your education, your arguments are invalid. Having an education has become synonymous with being intelligent and being intelligent has become impossible without an education.

            What is missed is that education is just training. That piece of paper is just an official statement confirming that you know what you know. That paper is bought with a tuition. It is also possible to cheat to get it. What good does that piece of paper do? Just look at how many people with degrees are working in the fast-food industry.

            Intelligence and knowledge, on the other hand, can come from anywhere – especially in modern times. You can learn anything on the internet. Yes, you need to be careful and ensure that the information you’re receiving is valid, but you can learn it there. There are also libraries full of books and a whole world full of experiences to learn from where knowledge and intelligence can be gleaned without a piece of paper to prove you know it. Some of the most intelligent and successful people in the world didn't even finish school.

            Now, I'm not saying that education is useless. Our education system is flawed, but it does a decent job. It’s the idea that education is the only valid source of knowledge and intelligence that is flawed.

            My brother ended up “temporarily” fixing that noisy heat shield by using zip-ties to hold it in place. When I took the car in for service, I was told, “What he did is working, so we’re going to leave it like that.” Today, those same zip-ties keep my heat shield from rattling around.

Click here to find the charity anthology containing a couple of my short stories.

If there's any subject you'd like to see me ramble on about, feel free to leave a comment asking me to do so.